“I call shotgun!” Brendon yelled from behind me as I approached Ryan’s car. He ran ahead of me and opened the passenger seat eagerly, getting in immediately as if someone was going to steal it from him.

Ry and I smiled as we got into the car as well, buckling our seat belts so we could drive to the mall. Brendon turned the radio on as loudly as possible, hurting our ear drums and loving it.

“Bren?!” Ry exclaimed, turning the radio off with another movement of his finger as he drove down the barren road. “I don’t want the radio on.”

“I do,” Brendon objected, turning it on once again.

I giggled as I watched them continue to argue over the radio, turning it on and off again. They truly were a great pair of friends, not afraid to speak their minds. It was sweet watching them fight like young children, until Ry finally gave into Brendon. The radio stayed on, loud and obnoxious.

We pulled into the mall parking lot, less crowded because it was a Tuesday, and found ourselves an empty parking spot. Brendon turned the radio off once Ryan stopped the car, a grin plastered to his face that had refused to leave the whole ride. We stepped out and began towards the huge glass doors that led inside.

As we passed a familiar spot in the mall, a pain in my chest shot up.

Not too long ago, I was right there, crying in Brendon’s arms.

Not too long ago, I didn’t even want to see Ryan.

“Where do they sell bathing suits?” Brendon asked us.

“In here,” I said, leading them into a store on our left. I went through the racks, picking out each suit that I liked even in the least, and gave them to Brendon and Ryan. By the time I went to try them on, they each had at least ten bathing suit in their arms. “Now I need to go try them on…” I said, leading them to the changing rooms.

“Cammy…” Brendon sighed, tired of standing around like a human coat rack. I just smiled at him and opened one of the wooden doors to change.

I stepped in, took the clothes from my friends, and closed the door. Brendon had caused me to have a phobia of unlocked doors now, so I quickly turned the lock and undressed. Trying on each and every one and getting their opinion, much to their dismay.

“Which one should I get?” I asked them, holding up two suits. One was black and white stripes with a red flower on the top. The other was black with a rose stitched on it. I preferred the one with the rose, and I was just trying to anger Ryan and Brendon.

It seemed to be working.

I laughed at their completely bored, lost expressions as I asked them the question. I got no reply, just two annoyed glares that utterly made my day.

“This one it is,” I said, answering for them. “All right, guys, I’m done. You can go look for yours,” I explained, watching as their eyes lit up and they quickly hurried away.

I took my wallet out and began walking to the counter, after finding a cute towel with Hello Kitty on it. Yes, it seemed babyish in ways, but I liked it, and that’s all that mattered. For once, I wasn’t being a conformist.

They didn’t take more than ten minutes in finding a bathing suit and towel. Ryan returned with navy blue swim trunks that had white flames on it, and Brendon held an orange one with red Hawaiian flowers everywhere. They were still young boys at heart, no matter how old they were. I loved it. Their towels were interesting as well; Ryan’s had a sad looking sock puppet type thing on it, and Brendon had Tonka Trucks. That just proved my point even more.

“Tonka Trucks?” I asked him, as he paid for his things.

“They had no Red Bull towels,” He tried to explain himself. “These trucks are almost as cool as Red Bull.”

“Uh….huh,” I said, giggling. “And Ry? What exactly is on yours?”

“I’m not really sure,” He admitted, smiling. “But it looks sad. I thought I’d buy it and take it out of its misery.”

“Because all towels have feelings, right?” I added sarcastically.

“Shut up,” He laughed. “Let’s go. Everybody’s going to be at Spence’s before us.”

We took our bags out to Ryan’s car and got in. Just for fun, I mimicked Brendon, running across the parking lot.

“I CALL SHOTGUN!” I shouted, running from the curb near the entrance into the parking lot.

“NOT IF I GET THERE FIRST!” Brendon exclaimed back, following me towards Ryan’s car.

We were right next to each other, foot by foot, racing to the car. We reached the door at the same time, to find it was locked. I looked over at Ryan, who was taking his time getting to the car with a smug grin crossing his face.

“Ry, open the door!” Brendon yelled to him, keeping one hand on the handle.

“I’ll open it when I feel like opening it,” He laughed, almost to the driver’s seat. He reached it, and took his keys from his pocket. Ryan held them up so we could see them through the windows, taunting us.

“Any day now,” Brendon complained. I watched as Ryan slowly pushed the button, as the car made the click sound that meant it was unlocked. And as it did, I shoved him to the side and jumped in, smiling at my friend who was looking quite sad.

“But I wanted the front seat…” He complained, batting his thick eye lashes over his flawless brown eyes. I tried to ignore how irresistible he looked, but couldn’t help but to give in. Same old Brendon.

“Fine…” I caved, stepping out and returning to the back seat in which I had sat in before. He grinned and took the front seat of Ryan’s car as he started the engine. Once inside, he insisted that the radio be on once again.

“No,” Ryan told him sternly.

“Yes,” Brendon pursued, just as before.

“No!” Ryan objected.

“YES!” Brendon persuaded him.

And as always, Ryan let him listen to the radio, sucking up whatever it was that didn’t want the noise and dealing with it.